Interviews

The Hill Has Eyes

While some enjoyed the first Resident Evil as a zombie flick, and others liked Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (and by "others" I mean me and my friend Scott), Hollywood really hasn't turned a video game into a movie that's both fun to watch and true to the spirit of the game that inspired it. But that's all about to change with Silent Hill, the film version of Konami's survival-horror series. At least that's what we think after talking to actress Radha Mitchell, who called us from New York City to talk about her starring role in the film.

GameSpy: How familiar were you with the Silent Hill games before you signed on to the movie?

Radha Mitchell: I wasn't, but I played the games when we were preparing for the films. I haven't finished them, but the movie is good because it explains the mythology of the game, so for people like me who haven't gotten to the end of the game, you get a sense of what it all means.

GameSpy: Which of the games did you play?

Mitchell: I played the first one and the second one. The movie is pretty much inspired by the first two. It has the melancholy and beauty of the second one, but the journey is really similar to the first one.

GameSpy: So if you didn't do this movie because you're a fan of the games, what was it about the film that interested you?

Mitchell: The script. When I read the script, and I got to page thirty, I got so freaked out that I had to put it down. But the next day I picked it up and finished reading it. There was a haunting quality to it that just stays with you. Then I saw the movie Brotherhood of the Wolf, which was directed by Christophe Gans, who directed Silent Hill, and it was this crazy French film that was just really inspired and original. And I really wanted to meet him and talk to him about what he was thinking of doing with the film. As much as this is based on a video game, I think it surpasses the expectations you might have for a movie based on a video game, because it's really this beautiful epic journey and kind of a surrealistic fantasy.

GameSpy: Did anyone try to convince you not to do this movie because it's based on a video game?

Mitchell: People did. But they hadn't met Christophe. He's kind of a French intellectual, but he's also a fan of the games. He's the kind of guy who'd play them three days straight, so he knew the games inside out and had so much passion for it. He actually told me that he sent a videotape to the people in Japan who make the games, and it was like an hour of him explaining what he wanted to do with the movie. And he had all the same ideas about it that they had, which is why he got to do the movie.

GameSpy: So did you and rest of the cast sit around on the set, playing the game?

Mitchell: No, we never got to play the game together. I actually really wanted to play the game with Christophe, because he knows it backwards and forwards, but we never had the time, which was a big disappointment for all the actors. We really wanted to play with Christophe. I mostly played it alone in my trailer during lunch.

GameSpy: Did you get really into it?

Mitchell: There is something about the games that make them really hard to put down. It was always annoying when you'd be playing it and they'd call you to the set.

GameSpy: How often, when you were filming the movie, did people on the set consult the game?

Mitchell: My character isn't from the game, she's an original character -- she's almost a female version of the guy in the first game -- but some of the actors were playing characters from the games, and they would reference the game and even used lines from the game.